This is the John Deere 690 we purchased. Afterwards, George did some maintenance to get it ready--replaced hoses, new batteries, etc.
Taking in the equipment the first week of June.
This pocket was found while Tim was clearing off the campsite.
Tim finds a beautiful miniature.
This is another superb specimen. This specimen was stolen from our campsite. If you recognize it anywhere, please let me know.
After clearing topsoil of the new dig site, we begin the new excavation on a small peg with good color.
The green peg did not open. We did find a large microcline pocket nearby.
Examining a piece with fluorite.
This pocket produced a few microcline plates with large modified fluorites up to 4 inches across.
Completely unexpectedly, Tim discovers an opening to the right of a pegmatite he was following.
It is unbelievably deep, over 46 inches, but does it have crystals and is it amazonite?
A mud-covered specimen that was loose.
Unbelievable! Great color amazonite, transparent smokies, even some cleavelandite.
Tim removes some of the breakdown to get acess to the pocket.
It appears to be a shallow pocket but it has some good potential.
This tower has two parallel smokies that appear in excellent condition.
"Old Man Rock." Perhaps he watches over the crystal pockets.
The pocket opens to the right.
Collecting crystals. One guy wraps and keeps track of order.
Continuing work on the pocket, we find this!
You can see the edge of a ceiling plate. The next step will be to remove anything on top of the plate.
All the material has been removed from above the plate. We will pull it out straight up in case there is a smoky quartz crystal sticking down. Any wiggle will chip the smoky.
It does have a smoky although it is a bit stubby. What a great group.
Not bad when it is washed up a bit. Actually, it's incredible!
This looks like a small smoky sticking up. Maybe it is attached to an amazonite.
It's attached to a few amazonites and a HUGE smoky!
Got to be one of the best large smokies with amazonite ever found.
End of day refueling. This is the small machine so it only takes about 50 gallons of diesel. (At $4.00 a gallon.)
My friend Chuck holding the piece he pulled out.
Here is another plate visible in the pocket. Again, we want to remove everything from on top of it before attempting to wiggle or remove it.
I am gently pulling up and out on the plate.
Another stunner. Looks like a Japan-law twin of amazonite with smoky. (Not possible of course.)
Tim washing the plate.
This is a new pocket about three feet behind the previous one.
Tim finds some great amazonite plates.
Notice the uncollected pocket to the upper left of Tim's shoulder. I decide we have our hands full with the lower pocket so ask Abe to begin collecting the upper pocket.
Abe pulls out a strange crystal. He knows it is not fluorite but has not seen anything like it.
Tim is wondering as well. Is it possibly bastnaesite?
I guess it might be genthelvite. We later test it and find out it is. This is the first of this species found in the district and one of the finest ever found in the world.
This photo shows some of the pegmatite structures.
We have literally dug around the 992 leaving it on an island. I cannot dig any further without risking it sliding into the excavation.
We move the 690 to the Hill Top. Here we have found a few amazonites in the past.
These pegmatite structures are very strong and several run parallel to each other.
Alan is examining a pegmatite with richly colored amazonite. These do not tend to open up much.
The last operational week and the propel gear grinds itself up due to a crushed ball bearing.
About 3K in gears. Completely ruined due to a piece of broken metal.
And after a month, we finally get the parts back for the 992.
In the meanwhile, I host some other diggers, including these Scouts taking their noon break. They all found some great material. Baxter found some extra lunch.
Eventually, we had to install a completely new propel gear. Pull the track, remove the motor, the gears, etc.
And by the way, the piece we ordered in, replaced a perfectly good injector pump. It turned out to be the head gasket. We don't know this at this point. We have to pull the engine and run it in to Colorado Springs for them to diagnose.
These guys from Colorado Machinery know all of my claims in the Crystal Peak area by now.
At last, the 992 is fixed. When we fixed the 690, we just took it out. We did not dare do any more mining with it. We find a pocket about an hour after we begin operations.
This looks like an outstanding pocket. It has space, and these are ceiling plates.
Here is a ceiling plate that I am lifting out. Keep your fingers crossed it is a good one.
It is. The smoky was broken, but I found it.
A crystal collector's dream. Look at all the plates lying face down in the clay. Everyone could be a gem.
Just to check, we pulled out another and did a quick wash.
And here is another. The pocket ended up producing 21 flats of material, which we are currently washing and piecing together.
We have a couple days I want to dig since we were shut down for so long. Besides, I need to make sure things are fixed.
A large pegmatite with huge amazonites finally opens into a pocket.
We find only a couple intact crystals despite the size.
Compare to the first picture of the season. Even with the machine down, we moved a lot of dirt.
Heading home for the winter. No passing allowed. (Well, you could try.)